Review: Katy Perry Brought Her Lifetimes Tour to Miami

Katy Perry’s Lifetimes Tour hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing. Since it launched earlier this year, the pop star’s attempt at a full-scale comeback has been overshadowed by viral mishaps, collapsing props, awkward choreography, and even a recent video of her being zapped mid-performance. But at the Kaseya Center on Saturday night, the “Firework” singer showed that things are smoothing up as she ends the U.S. leg of the tour and prepares for a Latin American run.

The night opened with internet-cult-favorite-turned-pop-disrupter Rebecca Black, whose set leaned heavily on club-ready cuts from her new project Salvation. Black, who first went viral with “Friday,” has reinvented herself in recent years with a heady blend of techno-pop, DJ sets, and unabashedly queer anthems. By the time she closed, the arena was buzzing, primed for Perry’s arrival.

At 8:56 p.m., the lights dropped. Three minutes later, Perry emerged from a massive spaceship at center stage, dressed like a hybrid of intergalactic warrior and pop Barbie. What followed was less a concert than a neon-soaked sci-fi epic, complete with AI invaders, holographic projections, dancers, and all, although we have to admit that the aesthetics reminded us of the Y2K chrome aesthetic, and not in the best of ways.

Songs from her latest album 143 – including “Artificial” and “Woman’s World” – may not have set the charts ablaze. Still, they slotted seamlessly between career-defining hits like “Teenage Dream,” “Dark Horse,” “I Kissed a Girl,” and “California Gurls.”

The crowd reflected Perry’s broad reach: young girls in glittery costumes, millennial fans reliving the Teenage Dream era, and groups of friends in coordinated outfits. When Perry performed “Roar” and the mega popular “Firework,” the energy hit peak stadium pop spectacle.

If Perry’s career has stalled on the charts – 143 is her third attempt in a decade to reclaim main pop girl status – the tour proves she hasn’t lost her knack for staging a show. Yes, the set leaned more on eye candy than vocal power, but no one in the building seemed to mind. For Miami, at least, the memes were forgotten, and Katy Perry again leaned into the larger-than-life star she was born to be.